The Senate Finance Health Subcommittee today began mobilizing support for legislation to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program, set to expire next year. At a hearing on SCHIP, a bipartisan panel of witnesses headed by Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-UT, and John Rockefeller IV, D-WV, praised the program, which was created by the 1997 Balanced Budget Act and provided coverage to 6.1 million children in fiscal year 2005. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mark McClellan said the administration is committed to expanding coverage for uninsured children. When reauthorization talks begin next year, he said his agency will seek ways to enroll the remaining 5.5 million uninsured children who are eligible for the program and to better allocate funds to the states that need the money. "We want to make sure that the SCHIP program continues to serve all of the children who need benefits in the program effectively," McClellan said. "As part of the reauthorization program next year, we need to look closely at the financing mechanisms."